My Hero
by Lithium-6
Summary: Best title I could come up with. One day, Alfred saves Eduard from yet another beating by Ivan. Ofcourse, it's not because Alfred even knows who he is, right? Fail summary, America X Estonia, highschool AU
1. Chapter 1

**Yay, new story. So, I'm uploading this from my phone, so I don't have spell check and I'm sorry if there's a bunch of mistakes. This was a random thing that demanded to be written. Enjoy. **

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><p>"Eduard~" The poor boy heard a voice call behind him. Knowing he had no choice, he turned around.<p>

"Y-yes, Ivan?"

"Where are you going, Eduard?" Ivan smiled at him. To someone who didn't know him, it would apeare that he was politely interested. But Eduard knew that one wrong move would put him in danger.

"T-to c-class."

"Nyet." Ivan grabbed the Estonian boy's writst. "You will stay with me, da?"

"O-okay." _As if I have a choice._

"Good. Now I need to talk to you about something. I got a C on my math test."

Eduard's eyes went wide. "I t-told you, I can't take you're tests for you."

"But you are incharge of my grades." He turned the boy against the lockers. "Now, you must be punnished."

As Eduard braced himself for the first punch, he heard a voice call, "Stop fiend!"

He opened his eyes and saw Alfred Jones standing behind Ivan with his hands on his hips in a heroic (or what he obviously thought was heroic) stance.

"Stay out of this, Jones." The bully said without looking away from Eduard. "This is none of your buissness."

"I'm a hero, so any time someone's in danger, it's my buissness!" Alfred exclaimed. "Now, drop that nerd before things get ugly."

"I would very much like to see that." Ivan's smile grew as he turned around. As soon as he did, Eduard dashed away.

He flew through hallway after hallway until he found an empty classroom to duck into. He stood against the door and panted, not used to running to much.

Alfred had saved him. Out of all the students in school, Alfred had been the one to save him. He'd always been sure that Al didn't know who he was, let alone care enough about him to save him from Ivan.

Wait. He was jumping to conclusions. He wouldn't get his hopes up to be crushed when Alfred didn't remember his name next time they talked.

Al had probaly just been walking by, maybe on his way to class, when he had seen Ivan and Eduard. His hero complex (or his hatred for Ivan) had taken over and he stepped in. It meant nothing.

Yeah...abosolutly nothing...

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><p><strong>I'll probaly contiue, but reviews and stuff will help. and if I do continue, it's only going to b a couple of chapters (one or two more.) thanks.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

`**Yeah...sorry about the wait... I really have no good excuse. I wrote this part by part with long periods of time in between, so sorry if it doesn't flow the best. I don't think I have much else to say here. **

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><p>` Somehow, Eduard was able to survive the rest of that day and half of the next without running into Ivan. Unfortunately, his luck ran out at lunch. As he was sitting alone waiting for his friend Tino to come, he saw Ivan walking towards him. His heart stopped and he looked for a way to escape, although he knew it was useless. Even if he did try to run, the bully would just follow him.<p>

"I-Ivan, what are you d-doing here?" Eduard said as the older man approached. "I th-thought you had class."

"Da, I do, but taking care of my friends is more important." Eduard could never tell if Ivan really thought they were friends or not. He probably did, making the Estonian feel a tiny bit guilty about hating him so much. But not much.

"S-so, why are y-you here?"

"We weren't done talking about my test when we were interrupted."

"M-maybe we should t-talk about this l-later." Eduard suggested. Tino was bound to show up soon, and he hated being beaten up in front of his friend. Not because of anything like pride (he'd lost that long ago) but because the Finn often tried to step in and help, getting himself hurt too.

"Nyet, here. Now." Ivan smiled and grabbed him by his shoulder, forcing him to stand. Even the Russian realized it was too crowded in the cafeteria with too many teachers to do anything, so he dragged him out to the hall. With all the students either at lunch or in class, they were alone.

"Now," Ivan said. "How to punish you? I think one hit for every answer I got wrong will serve nicely, da?"

Eduard swallowed. "H-how many is that?"

"Seventeen."

The Estonian boy nodded and closed his eyes. At least it wasn't the worst punishment he'd received, he tried to tell himself, but it didn't help. It wouldn't lessen the pain.

The first punch landed quickly, hitting him square in the nose. Eduard resisted the urge to yell out in pain and he could feel his glasses sitting wrong. He wasn't able to judge how bad it was because the second punch hit him in the stomach too soon. He doubled over, this time a noise escaping him. With the third he fell to his knees. He knew soon he would be begging for it to end, but if he started too soon his punishment would only become more severe .The fourth came as a knee to the face, causing his nose to bleed. He curled into a ball, making sure to protect his head, and waited for the rest of his beating.

After a minute without being hit again, Eduard tenitively looked up. Instead of seeing Ivan as he expected, he saw Alfred kneeling down next to him, a caring look on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently.

Eduard nodded, unable to speak. Alfred clearly didn't believe him. Instead of pushing the subject, Al reached up to fix the Estonian boy's glasses, making his heart beat a little faster.

"Why don't we get you to the nurse?" Alfred stood and offered his hand to help the poor boy up.

"No!" Eduard's voice came back to save him.

"Why not?"

"Because if I go to the nurse, she'll call my parents and they'll try to talk to Ivan or his parents and then things will just be worse!"

"So, your parents don't know about this at all?" Alfred questioned and Eduard shook his head. "Does anyone?"

"Me, Toris, and Ravis, obviously, because we're the ones taking it. Tino does, but he tries to forget because he can't help and he hates that. I think Berwald might know, and-"

"Do any adults know?" Alfred asked seriously. The look on his face scared Eduard a bit and reminded him this man was just as strong as Ivan.

"N-no." Eduard whispered in defeat.

Alfred kneeled down next to him again. "Ed! You have to tell someone! That's the best way to fix these things."

_How would you know? _The bitter thought pushed through Eduard's mind before being brushed aside. "Ivan said that if we told anyone, he'd cut out our tongues."

Alfred laughed for a moment before realizing the threat was to be taken seriously and there was a real possibility of it happening. "Okay, I won't take you to the nurse, but you have to let me do something else for you."

"What?" Eduard asked suspiciously.

"Let me be your hero."

"Wh-what?" The Estonian stuttered with surprise.

"Let me protect you from Ivan, at least for a few months. Please. I hate to see this kind of thing going on."

"Um, okay." As much as he hated it, Eduard's heart was racing. He really needed to get over this stupid crush. It wasn't so bad when Alfred had been that unachievable desire, but if they were going to be spending time together it would only cause problems.

Then he reminded himself that this wouldn't last. People like Alfred changed their interests as often as they changed their clothes. And Eduard wasn't all that interesting to start with.

"Hey dude. What's up?" The popular boy's voice interrupted his thoughts. He realized he had been zoning out.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"Nothing."

"You can think about nothing?" Alfred laughed and Eduard blushed. Especially because he had thought about nothing before. And often too. (It was a really interesting concept

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><p>It surprised Eduard how well Alfred stuck to his word. They didn't have the same classes (except music), but Al would always be there when he got out and would walk him to his next class. How (and if) he got to class on time was beyond the nerd. The American even walked home with him, despite Eduard's protests that Ivan rode the bus and lived on the other side of town.<p>

One day, the Friday after Alfred had started looking out for him, they had stopped in front of Eduard's door. As he was getting out his keys, the taller spoke up, "Um, could I come in and, like, stay for a while?"

"Uh, why?- I mean, I guess but...why?" He asked nervously.

"Well, you know. Ivan could show up, and where would you be without your hero to protect you?" More quietly, he added, "And I might need some help with my homework."

The Estonian was disappointed but unsurprised. He sighed and invited his new friend inside.

As it turned out, Alfred's question was rather simple. He had been working with 3X3 matrices and was forgetting to rewrite the first two columns and was getting lost after that. Eduard walked him through it once and then let him try on his own. It wasn't long before Alfred was getting it with ease.

Eduard got them some food and then began his own homework. They sat rather quietly until Alfred started to feel awkward and began to talk about something Kiku had done. Eduard knew Kiku but never knew that he and Al were friends.

That led the Estonian to wonder why Alfred hung out with so many people who weren't as popular as him. As far as he knew, none of the other popular kids did that (in fact his friends had often been treated with contempt when trying to talk to them.)

They talked for a while longer about things going on in their school. Soon enough, though, Alfred said he had to get home. Eduard checked the time and was shocked to see it was almost five. He said good bye to his friend and quickly finished the homework he'd been to distracted to work on.

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><p>Alfred came over again the next week to get help with his physics. And the following to get help with economics. It soon became a weekly thing. When Al didn't have any questions, they would just play video games.<p>

Eduard really liked the arrangement and was surprised Alfred stuck with it. He wondered why the popular boy wasn't hanging out with his other friends instead, but never brought it up. He didn't want to risk it ending.

"Hey, so I was thinking, would you like to come to a movie tomorrow?" Al said out of the blue one Friday while he was working though what Eduard had showed him. The Estonian's heart stopped before Al went on. "A bunch of us are getting together around noon and seeing that new romantic comedy. Not really my style, but, hey, I got nothing better to do, you know? And I thought it'd be fun if you came with us. You could bring one of your friends with, too, if you want. So, what do you say?"

"Ah...sure. That sounds fun."

"Great! See you there!" Alfred said and ran out.

Eduard just stood for a minute then pulled out his phone and called Tino.

"Hey, Ed, what's up?" Tino answered.

"Alfred invited me to a movie tomorrow and you're coming with."

"Why? Wouldn't it be better to be alone with him? I mean, it's what you want, right?" About a week before, Eduard had told Tino about his crush on Alfred. Tino had been supportive, but unfortunately he was an optimist and was trying to get him to ask the popular boy on a date, say 'what's the worst that could happen?' or 'I'm sure he likes you, too'. He didn't seem to realize it wasn't that easy.

"No, it's with a bunch of his friends. And I'm not going to a movie with a bunch of populars alone."

"You'll have Alfred." Tino pointed out.

"...You can't see it, but I'm giving you a very unimpressed look." Tino just laughed. "He doesn't count. Besides, he'll probably just talk to his friends."

"You're his friend, too." Before Eduard could say anything, Tino went on, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll come."

"Thank you." 

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><p>When Eduard and Tino arrived at the theater everyone was already in line. Alfred called them over. Eduard scanned the crowd and all the color drained from his face. His eyes met with Ivan's and the Russian boy smiled at him.<p>

"What are they doing here?" Gilbert asked, pointing at the two newcomers.

"I invited them." Alfred explained none to kindly.

"Why?"

"Because they're my friends and I can."

"I'm okay with it." Ivan said and a chill ran down Eduard's spine.

"Then its settled!" Alfred announced as he pulled Eduard close to him. The boy blushed and looked at the ground.

"Nothing has been decided." Arthur argued but was ignored.

After a few minutes, Al whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't know Ivan would be here. But don't worry, I'll protect you!"

"It's okay." Was all the other could think to say. He was still very close to his crush.

In the theater, he sat between Alfred and Tino. Ivan had tried to sit next to him, but Al pushed him aside with an innocent look.

Eduard watched the first half hour of the movie with little interest. He was surprised to see Alfred watching with interest. He must be one of those people who can get into any movie. Lucky.

The Estonian ended up leaving to go get some more popcorn. The line wasn't long but he loitered around for awhile, hoping to avoid as much of the movie as possible.

Finally he started feeling bad about it and began to head back to the theater. About half way there he saw Ivan approaching. Eduard put his head down hoping that he wouldn't be noticed.

Unfortunately he ended up running right into the larger boy. He stepped back and stuttered an apology but when he looked up, Ivan didn't look mad. He didn't look dangerous at all. Instead he looked almost sad.

"Eduard, you have been avoiding me." The Russian said bluntly. Ed tried to come up with an excuse, but the other cut him off. "Do not deny it. We both know it is true. But I do not understand why. What did I do?"

The poor boy tried to find words to explain what should have been obvious, but his shocked brain couldn't come up with anything. He was still trying to figure out why he hadn't been hit yet.

"Fine. Don't answer. Just know that I am sorry for whatever I did and I will miss you." Then Ivan did something Eduard would have never expected in a million years. He hugged him. It was a tight hug, but not necessarily painful. After about a minute, he let go and walked off, leaving Eduard to wonder what just happened.

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><p>Eduard was left with no way to explain what had happened besides that Ivan had finally gone completely insane.<p>

It wasn't until Monday that he actually understood. In the morning, while he was walking around aimlessly and waiting for the bell to ring for first hour, Ravis and Toris ran up behind him and hugged him, both cheering happily. After he pushed them off, he exclaimed, "What's with all the hugging lately?"

"Ivan's gone!" Ravis yelled out.

"What?" Eduard's heart raced. Was he really finally free?

"Yeah, his dad got a new job in another state, so his entire family's moved." Toris explained. "Of course, I'm a bit sad Natalia is gone too, but I can still call her."

"Are you guys serious? He really left? When?"

"Yesterday!" They cried together. Then they jumped on Eduard again and they all laughed happily. This was the best thing that could have happened.

"What are you all so happy about?" They heard someone laugh. They broke apart and saw Alfred smiling at them.

"Ivan's gone!" Ravis explained as if he couldn't say it enough. As he did, realization dawned on Eduard. No more Ivan meant he didn't need to be protected anymore. Which meant Alfred wouldn't need to protect him anymore and he'd go back to his old life as a poor pathetic nerd with a stupid crush on someone who didn't even know who he was.

He tried not to let his emotion show. He just smiled as Alfred said, "That's great guys!"

They continued to talk until the bell rang and they all had to split up to get to class.

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><p>Eduard went through the rest of the day in a bit of a daze. It was weird knowing Ivan wasn't around and weirder that he'd left so suddenly. Then again, maybe it wasn't sudden and the Estonian was just out of the loop. That was just as realistic of possibility.<p>

More of his time, however, was occupied with thoughts of Alfred. He still walked him to all of his classes and sat with him a lunch. Eduard felt like he should point out that Al didn't have to do that now, but couldn't bring himself too. He wanted to see how long this could go on.

By Wednesday, Ed still hadn't said anything. He'd been quiet over the past couple of days though and he was sure Alfred had noticed but wasn't pointing it out. That afternoon, when they got to the nerd's house, Al plopped down on the couch and said, "Well, I don't have any homework today, so what game to you wanna play? I was thinkin' a-"

Finally guilt overwhelmed the Estonian and he asked, "Why are you here?" He didn't wait for an answer. "You know just as well as I do that Ivan's gone so you don't have to 'be my hero' anymore. You should be happy to go back to your friends and forget all about me. That's the way it works."

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Because you're popular. And I'm just a nerd. The only reason you helped me is because you liked the way it made you feel. You never really cared about me." Eduard didn't mean for it to sound bitter, but it did.

Alfred jumped to his feet. "Who told you that!"

"Nobody had to tell me! I know how these things work!"

"I wasn't using you, I promise! I would never do that to anyone, especially you!"

"Then why'd you help me when you could have just ignored it like everyone else? Why would you go out of your way to help me without getting anything from it, huh?" Eduard's bottled up emotions were flowing out. As he yelled, he could feel tears stinging his eyes.

"Because I like you!"


	3. Chapter 3

`**This chapter goes really fast and I'm not really proud of the ending. Hopefully, you'll like it better than I do.**

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><p>"Wh-what?" Eduard's brain shut down and he needed to make sure he had heard the other correctly.<p>

"I said I like you. I've liked you for a long time, I just didn't want to freak you out by talking to you, ya know? And then all this came up and I saw my chance. I got to hang out with you, but I still couldn't tell you because you'd be all weirded out and we couldn't even be friends anymore."

"You...like me? As in like-like me?"

"Well, I don't know anyone who's said it like that since fourth grade, but yeah." Eduard turned red at that.

"But you can't!"

"Why not?" Alfred asked. "If it's the whole gay thing, I-"

"It's not that. I don't care about that."

"Then why can't I like you?"

"Because I like you!"

"You do? That's awesome!"

"No, it's not!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's not the way it works!" Eduard exclaimed. Seeing the confused look on Alfred's face, he went on. "I'm supposed to have a crazy, impossible crush on the most popular, most handsome boy through out all of high school, but he's not supposed to know who I am and then I go off to collage and maybe eventually meet someone on my social level and settle down with them or else die alone. And you're supposed to be really popular and everyone loves you and wants to date you and you have your pick of the lot so you choose the hottest girl or guy or whatever and you date them for a while before breaking up with them and moving on to someone new. Or else you two stay together and win awards senior year and go on to collage together and eventually get married. Either way, no where in here do you start to like me or even see me! That against the natural order of things!"

Al just stared at him for a minute. Then the American started to laugh. "What? Where would you get an idea like that?"

"Nowhere! It just is how it is! I didn't get it from anywhere because it's everywhere!"

"Well then, let's say that is the case and my life has to play out like that. There's one flaw with your logic."

"And what's that?"

"You're the hottest boy in school. Or at least the cutest and nicest and smartest."

"No I'm not." Eduard said and looked at the ground in hopes of hiding his blush.

"You are to me. Besides, you said I have the pick of the lot. I pick you." Alfred stepped forward and forced the blonde to look him in the eyes.

The Estonian boy sighed. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

"Nope!" Alfred laughed, then suddenly he was serious again. "Now, Eduard, will you forget about all these stupid social standing things and just go out with me?"

Feeling defeated, he sighed and said, "Fine."

"Yay!" The American exclaimed and pulled him into a tight, happy hug.

_Great, more hugging. _Eduard thought. But this one was different. It was better. And this time, he hugged back.


End file.
